INCIDENCE OF DIARRHEA WITH ANTIBIOTICS AND THE INCREASE OF CLOSTRIDIAIN RABBITS

Rabbits were treated with a single intravenous injection of various an tibiotics. More than 40 per cent of the animals showed diarrhea after being treated with sulbactam/cefoperazone, cefmetazole, clindamycin, p iperacillin or aspoxicillin. Clostridium difficile was isolated from s ulbactam/cefoperazone-treated diarrheic rabbits, with their cecal cont ents showing positive reaction in a latex agglutination test for C. di fficile enterotoxin. However, 27 cefmetazole-induced diarrheic cases w ere not associated with C. difficile. Other enteropathogenic bacteria, such as Campylobacter spp., Bacillus cereus, enteropathogenic Escheri chia coli, coagulase positive Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella spp., Vibrio spp., Clostridium perfringens and Clostridium spiroforme, were not isolated from either of diarrheic rabbit. However, the counts of c lostridia remarkably increased in the intestine of cefmetazole-associa ted diarrheic rabbits. This was ascribed to the overgrowth of Clostrid ium innocuum and Clostridium sporogenes. There were no remarkable diff erences in changes in other bacterial population between diarrheic and non-diarrheic rabbits.